This invention relates to novel imidazolinium salts. Specifically, these compounds are imidazolinium salts which bear at least one ##STR1## group, wherein each R' is hydrogen or a hydrocarbyl radical and Q is a divalent, saturated, normal hydrocarbon radical optionally containing no more than two oxygen or secondary amine moieties.
There exist myriad examples in the literature of imidazolinium salts useful as cationic surfactants and/or fabric conditioning agents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,489 discloses a process for making imidazolinium salts bearing a ##STR2## group, wherein R" is a C.sub.10 -C.sub.22 aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon moiety. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,874,074 and 3,681,241 also describe imidazolinium salts useful as fabric conditioning agents.
The literature also discloses that certain imidazoline compounds are useful as cationic surfactants or dispersants. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,037,029; 3,003,969 and 2,794,765.